LG's 31MU97 Monitor Has IPS Panel With 4096 x 2160 Resolution

More and more 4K monitors are hitting the market, but unfortunately, only a handful of them come with high-quality professional-grade panels. LG's latest monitor doesn't follow that trend, as the 31MU97 is aimed at professionals who work on content creation. It is marketed as a Digital Cinema 4K monitor, which is because it has a true 4K resolution.

Most "4K" monitors sold today have a 3840 x 2160 resolution, but that's actually a UHD resolution, simply a multiple of Full HD. The industry standard for the 4K resolution, though, is 4096 x 2160 pixels, giving an aspect ratio of 17:9. This resolution makes the monitor ideal for 4K content creators, because the video doesn't need to be scaled down to fit on the screen.

LG's 31MU97 comes with a 31-inch 10-bit color IPS panel, which is calibrated to cover 99.5 percent of the Adobe RGB color space. For the pros, LG also calibrated the monitor to cover 97 percent of the DCI-P3 color space.

"LG's Digital Cinema 4K Monitor presents the company with an excellent opportunity to solidify our leadership in the global professional monitor market," said Hyoung-sei Park, head of the IT business division at LG Electronics. "This monitor's high-end features and functions make it the perfect solution for professionals who require a top-of-the-line monitor with all the technology currently available."

The monitor also comes with a stand that supports height adjustments, tilt adjustment and pivoting. Mini-DisplayPort, DisplayPort, and two HDMI interfaces handle display connectivity, and there is also a built-in 4-port USB 3.0 hub.

LG's MSRP for the 31MU97 is $1399.99.

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Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

  • MustSee4KTV
    Where are the 4K touch monitors?
    Reply
  • BulkZerker
    Wonder what kind of input lag it might have. Loving that its pushing display port use.
    Reply
  • Tanquen
    16:10 is much better than 17:9. Why would they go wider and not taller?
    Reply
  • gnarr
    because 4096*2160 is native DCI 4K resolution (and it's 19:10, not 17:9).
    Reply
  • soldier45
    Its over 30 inches its 4K and IPS with 60hz display port, I'm sold. Time to upgrade the ZR30.
    Reply
  • ammaross
    In other news, incident of organ harvesting has taken a sharp increase, particularly in technology-centric cities with a large IT workforce....
    Reply
  • sportfreak23
    Love the quality EA83 from LG's I have around the house. This may be my next upgrade when the time comes.
    Reply
  • Omar Josef
    No hardware calibration? So this isn't a professional monitor then. I wonder why it's taking so long for EIZO or NEC to finally start selling high resolution displays.
    Reply
  • tomfreak
    10bit per channel color + 4K = a true 4K monitor. (not those 24/32bit color)

    lets hope they are also 60fps.
    Reply
  • flybri
    Hate to say it, but considering the new Apple iMac has a higher resolution display (and wouldn't doubt if it was better quality as well) AND it's also a computer as well for $2,500 (yes, I know it's a Mac, but still, it's a pretty capable one at that), then I feel $1,400 is too much at this point. Before that iMac came out, this wouldn't have been a bad price, but they'll have to knock at least $200 minimum off the cost for it to be worth it in my opinion. (Yes, I know the screen on the iMac is 4" smaller than this LG, but the iMac is still 27" and thus has a significantly higher ppi) Just my two cents.
    Reply